Conventional cleaning has "little impact" in eliminating the superbug MRSA in the environment in hospitals, research has suggested.

The study at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London found MRSA contamination in rooms occupied by patients with the disease after the walls had been swabbed and the furniture cleaned.

The study found the disease survived in all the areas tested, which included tables, bed frames, door handles and light switches. But the potentially fatal bug was all but eliminated where they used a new method of hydrogen peroxide vapour decontamination.